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Joseph Riley
Joseph Maximilian Thatcher '''(born September 1, 1994), professionally known as '''Joseph Riley is an English professional wrestler currently signed to a developmental contract with Elite Answers Wrestling, performing under their NEO sub-branch. He is also known for performing under the promotion’s former sub-branch, War Made Wrestling. Early life Thatcher was born and raised in Cambridgeshire, England, living there for 13 years. He is the only child to his father Bishop Thatcher and mother Pilar Thatcher. At the age of 14, the Riley family including Joseph, moved from England to Tokyo, Japan. Early wrestling career Japan and early career (2008 - 2013) They would stay there for nearly 7 years, where Thatcher would become intrigued by professional wrestling. He would then start training, learning the art of Strong Style, under the tutelage of his mentor, Kuroda Haru. Riley quickly learned and had become familiarised with the style, resulting in his first wrestling match at the age of 15, debuting under the ring name Joseph Riley. '''Riley would then continue to work as a freelancer in Japan, never staying in one company too long. Due to his violent nature in matches and vicious strong style assaults, this earned him the nickname of "Unabashed Rage". While he would earn some fans, the majority including Japanese viewers rejected Riley as a competitor, except for his long-time mentor and teacher, Kuroda Haru due to them disliking his attitude and brutal wrestling style. Despite this animosity, he would wrestle in Japan for 5 years, before his family moved back to England. '''Move back to England; British independent circuit (2013 - 2017) After living for nearly 5 years in Japan, Riley and his family moved back to Cambridgeshire in 2013. He eventually moved out of his home in 2014 where he began to train once more. While back in Cambridgeshire, Riley began to train, perfecting his combination style of strong style wrestling and submission wrestling. This would garner him another nickname, "Strong Style Engineer." Riley would then work in the British professional wrestling scene for another 4 years, again as a freelancer. Elite Answers Wrestling (2017) War Made Wrestling (2017) After seeing an advert for the return of War Made Wrestling, he decided to sign with EAW. On January 7th, it was announced that EAW had signed Joseph Riley to a contract to their sub-branch, War Made Wrestling. On the first-ever WMW show, Riley participated in a Devil's Pit match for the company's most prestigious title, the Wartorn belt. Riley was eliminated by Matt Queen in the match. He never wrestled another match for the sub-branch however, as WMW would fold in only its third week of running. Developmental (2018 - present) On January 12th, EAW announced it signed multiple performers under developmental contracts, one of which being former WMW Combatant Joseph Riley. He reported to the Performance Center the following month on February 17th. Other media Riley is currently featured on The Plunge, an EAW Network reality show detailing the lives of Performance Center recruits. Personal life Thatcher resides in Pittsburgh, Pennyslvania. Thatcher is an avid gamer, playing video games during his spare time, especially fighting games, citing it as his favorite video game genre. His favorite games include Tekken, Street Fighter, and the Mortal Kombat series. He has stated that he is good friends with EAW Elitists Finnegan Wakefield and Keelan. He cites Diamond Cage and Jacob Senn as his biggest professional inspirations and his favorite wrestlers growing up. In wrestling * Finishers ** Bait And Switch (Springboard Cutter) ** Ticking Time Bomb (Omoplata Armbar) ** Kurōba No Ha (Texas Cloverleaf) - adopted from Kuroda Haru * Signatures ** GET OVER HERE! (Wrist-lock transitioned into Spanish Fly) ** Cigarettes and Alcohol (Triple Superkicks) * Nicknames ** Unabashed Rage ** Strong Style Engineer * Entrance Themes ** "Hated" by Beartooth (2016 - January 2018) ** ”Pray For Me” by The Weeknd and Kendrick Lamar (January 2018 -present) Category:British Characters Category:British Wrestlers Category:Elite Answers Wrestling Category:Characters from England Category:Wrestlers born in England Category:Wrestlers Category:Active Wrestlers Category:EAW Category:1994 Births Category:Wrestlers born in 1994 Category:People born in 1994 Category:EAW NEO Category:English Wrestlers Category:English Characters